Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Your nose will start running, hurting, and sneezing. (Capsaicin is the burning component of hot peppers). Why would you do such an experiment? Anyone who’s handled the compound in the lab knows that if it gets up your nose, it causes “an intense burning sensation.” However, this phenomenon has not been formally investigated. “Therefore, it appeared worthwhile to study the effects produced by the topical application of capsaicin in the human [nose].” It therefore appeared worthwhile because it never had been done before? Okay.

So, they took some medical students, dripped some in their nose, and they started sneezing, burning, and snotting. Describing the pain as like eight or nine, on a scale of one to ten. No surprise, but here’s the interesting part. What do you think happened when they repeated the experiment the next day? You’d think they might be sensitized to it, you know, still all irritated, and so it might hurt even worse. But no; it hurt less. Then, they did it again the next day, and the next. By day five, it hardly hurt at all; they didn’t even get a runny nose—no sneezing. Came back the next week, day ten, and still nothing.

Sheesh, were they, like, permanently numbed? No, after a month or so, the desensitization wore off, and they were back in agony whenever they tried rubbing it in their nose. What the researchers think is happening is that the pain fibers—the nerves that carry pain sensation—dumped so much of the pain neurotransmitter (called substance P) that they ran out. Day after day of this, the nerves had exhausted their stores, and could no longer transmit pain messages until they made more substance P from scratch—which took a couple weeks. This gave researchers an idea.

There’s a rare headache syndrome called cluster headache. It’s been described as one of the worst pains humans experience. Few, if any, medical disorders are more painful. It’s nicknamed the “suicide headache,” because “patients often consider taking or have taken their lives” over it.

It’s thought to be caused by arterial dilation putting pressure on the trigeminal nerve in the face. Treatments involve everything from nerve blocks to Botox to surgery. But, hey, that same nerve goes down to the nose. What if we cause the whole nerve to dump all its substance P? “Preventative effect of repeated nasal applications of capsaicin in cluster headache.”

Same as before, capsaicin in the nose, and by day five, they could hardly feel it any more. Note, though, that these were cluster headache sufferers, and so, what was rated as an eight or nine on the pain scale by the wimpy medical students was like, maybe a three or four by those “used to the violence of the cluster headache attacks.” Having achieved desensitization, what happened to their headaches?

Well, cluster headaches are one-sided headaches: you only get pain on one side of your head. So, those who had rubbed capsaicin in the opposite nostril, on the wrong side of the head—nothing happened. They started out having like 40 attacks a day, and a month later, the headaches were still going strong.

But, those that rubbed the capsaicin in the nostril on the side of the head where the headaches were cut the average number of attacks in half. And, in fact, half the patients were cured; the cluster headaches were gone completely. All in all, 80% responded—at least equal, if not better than, all the current therapies out there.

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Your nose will start running, hurting, and sneezing. (Capsaicin is the burning component of hot peppers). Why would you do such an experiment? Anyone who’s handled the compound in the lab knows that if it gets up your nose, it causes “an intense burning sensation.” However, this phenomenon has not been formally investigated. “Therefore, it appeared worthwhile to study the effects produced by the topical application of capsaicin in the human [nose].” It therefore appeared worthwhile because it never had been done before? Okay.

So, they took some medical students, dripped some in their nose, and they started sneezing, burning, and snotting. Describing the pain as like eight or nine, on a scale of one to ten. No surprise, but here’s the interesting part. What do you think happened when they repeated the experiment the next day? You’d think they might be sensitized to it, you know, still all irritated, and so it might hurt even worse. But no; it hurt less. Then, they did it again the next day, and the next. By day five, it hardly hurt at all; they didn’t even get a runny nose—no sneezing. Came back the next week, day ten, and still nothing.

Sheesh, were they, like, permanently numbed? No, after a month or so, the desensitization wore off, and they were back in agony whenever they tried rubbing it in their nose. What the researchers think is happening is that the pain fibers—the nerves that carry pain sensation—dumped so much of the pain neurotransmitter (called substance P) that they ran out. Day after day of this, the nerves had exhausted their stores, and could no longer transmit pain messages until they made more substance P from scratch—which took a couple weeks. This gave researchers an idea.

There’s a rare headache syndrome called cluster headache. It’s been described as one of the worst pains humans experience. Few, if any, medical disorders are more painful. It’s nicknamed the “suicide headache,” because “patients often consider taking or have taken their lives” over it.

It’s thought to be caused by arterial dilation putting pressure on the trigeminal nerve in the face. Treatments involve everything from nerve blocks to Botox to surgery. But, hey, that same nerve goes down to the nose. What if we cause the whole nerve to dump all its substance P? “Preventative effect of repeated nasal applications of capsaicin in cluster headache.”

Same as before, capsaicin in the nose, and by day five, they could hardly feel it any more. Note, though, that these were cluster headache sufferers, and so, what was rated as an eight or nine on the pain scale by the wimpy medical students was like, maybe a three or four by those “used to the violence of the cluster headache attacks.” Having achieved desensitization, what happened to their headaches?

Well, cluster headaches are one-sided headaches: you only get pain on one side of your head. So, those who had rubbed capsaicin in the opposite nostril, on the wrong side of the head—nothing happened. They started out having like 40 attacks a day, and a month later, the headaches were still going strong.

But, those that rubbed the capsaicin in the nostril on the side of the head where the headaches were cut the average number of attacks in half. And, in fact, half the patients were cured; the cluster headaches were gone completely. All in all, 80% responded—at least equal, if not better than, all the current therapies out there.

83 responses to “Hot Sauce in the Nose for Cluster Headaches?”

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Awesome ! Amazing finding after amazing finding, I just love you doc ! Your website is by far the most impressive compilation of life saving information. I just recommend you to everyone (who speak english…) Could we get this in French someday ? :)

Dr. I am a cluster sufferer I am trying to figure out what I need to buy from the above referenced video that uses Capsaicin – Zostrix/Sinus Buster? Im in Toronto Canada and it seems most Dr’s here are unaware of this cure and have no clue what I am suppose to buy. Please help me with this – thanks for your attention. Jeffrey

I am a long time episodic sufferer as well and for the past 3 days, I use simple Ground Red Cayanne Pepper found at any grocerystores seasoning section. Its ground/fine.

1. I pour about 1/2 of a dime worth onto the counter
2. Wet my finger and coat with the pepper
3. On the affected side, I use finger and rub inside the nostril 360 degrees
4. Once the burning starts (worse 1st time), I sniff. Note this will allow some to drain in the throat so have water handy and be prepared to cough/spit it out.

I have found that it hasn’t aborted an attack for me yet, but, has pushed the onset of the attack out as much as an hour and a half allowing time for my sumatripitan to kick in which has been a blessing since my headaches come full blown within about 3 minutes.

I usually have found I do steps 1 thru 4 immediately. Then about 15 minutes later redo them again and that pushes it out. You will feel the nerve tingle across the entire pathway from the eye back to the neck. Im on day-3 and now the pepper isn’t burning like it did on days 1 and 2.

Very interesting! Cluster headache is very, very painfull. Could be interesting to combine this with conventional therapy in patients who do not respond sufficiently to sumatriptane, oxygen and verapamil.

The inventor of Sinus Buster nasal spray made his discovery because he was intentionally sprayed with a pepper spray for demonstration purposes just when a cluster headache happened to appear. His cluster headache went away in seconds.

After fine tuning the product, it also works just as well for migraine sufferers.

Absolutely fascinating! I for one am super grateful that I do not suffer form these terribly debilitating headaches,but I am happy to know what the remedy is all the same. Really interesting information… as always.

I agree that this is really cool information. But it boggles my mind that a) some experimenters decided to put pain powder in people’s noses in the first place and b) people let them – not just once, but day after day. You would have to pay me mega amounts of money to volunteer for an experiment like that!

Sounds like those cluster headaches must be pretty darn bad (an understatement, I am sure). I suppose if I suffered such pain, I would try just about anything to relieve it as well, even if that meant stuffing peppers up my nose.

Trust me, we Cluster Head Busters will do anything – a friend of mine sent me this new treatment theory and I will be trying it very soon. I have been in all sorts of pain from bad car accidents, renal colic, broken bones, gout, gall stones with pancreatitis (which is considered “overwhelming pain”, and it is, even with massive amounts of morphine I wanted to die) – they are nothing compared to C.H. They aint called suicide headaches for nothing. I am mentally getting over the idea of using a scotch bonnet chili to line my right nostril with, but I will. My doctor will be interested.

Actually I have been using mucosal lignocaine spray into the nose for a while now – quite effective, but hellishly expensive. I was shaking so much a couple of times from the pain I squirted it into my eye. That isn’t recommended

Capsaicin is pretty remarkable. Invented by Capsicum plants to deter consumption by mammals: birds, who can’t detect it, disperse seeds more widely. As a vasodilator, it increases bloodflow to the skin, making tropical climes more comfortable. As a selective calcium channel binder, it causes a false impression of heat, while depleting stores of the pain signalling neurotransmitter Substance P. As a NF-κB inhibitor it reduces inflammation. By modulating a number of cell signalling pathways (eg reactivating tumor suppressor genes JNK, p38 et al) it induces apoptosis and reduces cancer growth (in cell culture, at least).A recent review on capsaicin & cancer chemoprevention.The most recent capsaisin & chemoprevention review, behind paywall.
But before you start rubbing your entire body down with habanero sauce, a word of caution.

I can attest to habituation to capsaicin, as I can without much discomfort drink a bottle of Tabasco sauce straight (don’t ask). I’ve had to move on to hotter sauces like Marie Sharpe’s and Melinda’s for my fix.

I don’t get cluster headaches, just migraines, tension, and sinus and Sinus Buster (capsacian based nose spray) usually helps quite a bit. I’ve been getting headaches almost every day the past 2 weeks and the spray doesn’t really irritate me much anymore, I now know why, thanks.

Gina: Thanks for the tip, re: Sinus Buster. I had not heard of that before.

Your tip is also interesting, because with a marketed product out there already, it sounds like we already knew about the connection between squirting the capsaicin up the nose and headache relief. It may be news concerning the cluster headaches, but not news in general.

The inventor of Sinus Buster nasal spray made his discovery because he was intentionally sprayed with a pepper spray for demonstration purposes just when a cluster headache happened to appear. His cluster headache went away in seconds.

After fine tuning the product, it also works just as well for migraine sufferers.

Dear Dr Greger! I absolutely love your daily videos on health topics! Do you know if there are any studies done on the effect of a vegan diet when it comes to endometriosis?

I have suffered from this illness for some years now and have read all I could find on the subject. The most effective diet seems to be one that excludes wheat, dairy, soy, animal fat, sugar and alcohol. I therefore thought that a soy-free, wheat-free vegan diet might be the able to help me. However, isn’t it difficult being on a vegan diet without wheat and soy?

You wrote ” isn’t it difficult being on a vegan diet without wheat and soy?”

The majority of vegans I know avoid soy like the plague. Whether this is warranted or not is not the issue here. What I want to encourage you with is that tons of vegans have a wonderful, rich, satisfying vegan diet and never ingest soy in any shape or form, even in tiny amounts.

Anyone can enjoy a wonderful, full, rich vegan diet without wheat/gluten grains. You can buy wheat-free and/or gluten-free products ……..but please don’t ever get the idea soy and wheat are necessities in a healthy and satisfying vegan diet.

I don’t intentionally avoid wheat or soy, but I don’t eat them very often. My diet is so varied with regards to grains and legumes that I don’t eat any one with much frequency. So for me to get rid of any particular grain or legume, even wheat or soy, would be quite easy.

However I eat a diet based on whole foods and very few processed foods. For someone eating a diet based on processed foods, avoiding wheat or so would probably be more difficult or at least more expensive.

Hello @tinejensen:disqus, eating a diet without wheat and soy is not hard at all (as others below have already stated). There are TONS of great resources out there (internet and books) that you should explore for recipe ideas. You’ll see how easy it can be to eat a plant-based whole food diet without wheat and soy. There are many ways to eat plant-based, you just need to find the one the method that works for you best. Happy exploring and eating!

Yes – avoid processed vegan foods – I looked at the ingredient label today of some vegan sausages and vegan kebab. Totally junk! Could be that a steak with gravy was more healthy…(probably not, but you know what I mean)

The articles concerning human consumption found some relation between disease and low intake of vegetable and fruit and high intake of vegetarian polyunsaturated fat, ham, beef and other red meat. Results concerning fish intake were not consistent.

Increased total fat consumption was associated with decreased endometriosis risk … Increased b-carotene consumption and servings/d of fruit were associated with increased risk… We also found a suggestion of decreased endometriosis risk associated with the consumption of dairy products.

Ie, several studies have found high plant, low meat, low vegetable oil diets helpful, but this more recent study found high-fat, low-fruit, low dairy diets helpful.

There are a couple of anecdotal reports on the internet about vegan diets, and particularly the elimination of dairy, reduced endometriosis symptoms. There’s little risk in trying that experiment oneself.

I am very surprised to see that the endo risk was lower with an increased fat intake in that last study. It is well-known that endometriosis is fuelled by oestrogen, and, as oestrogen levels rise on a high-fat diet, that sounds very strange to me…

Speaking of my own experience, my pains definitely increase if I eat wheat, dairy and too much animal fat or sugar. If I eat too much omega 3, my periods get even heavier (and they are already extremely heavy) so the only way of keeping a healty omega 3/6 ratio for me would be to decrease omega 6 consumption.

After having seen Food Matters and other videos about a vegan diet, I guess I am hoping that a vegan diet might be the actual cure ;-) It seems that a vegan diet should improve one’s immune system, and this might be the key to healing my body.

I would really appreciate it if some of you could list an example of a daily menu for a vegan? What do you eat over the course of a day?

First of all – wellcome to the party!
Second living vegan (or near-vegan) is not difficult, just remember B12.
A daily menu could be: Breakfast: Oatmeal cooked with applejuice, water and a little cinnamon. Lunch: Ryebread with tomatoes, cucumber, onion, avocado and salt & peber. Dinner: Vegetable wok (or tagine), with garlic, chilli and ginger – and you can add some beans – with rice. Bon appetit…

Thanks for the menu, Plantstrongdoc!
I already eat oatmeal (though usually not cooked) with nuts and rice milk almost every morning. Lunch is usually rye bread with e.g. chicken and veggies. Dinner always includes either rice or tubers and plenty of veggies and some kind of lean meat.

Well you are pretty close! Just rember that there are no such thing as lean meat – all meat contains saturated fats and cholesterol (and too much protein, antibiotics, growthhormone and so on). Use beans and lentils instead of meat. Consider to buy one of dr. Gregers DVD`s – they contain a short list of optimum nutrition recommendations regarding B12, Omega 3 (vegan), Vitamin D, Calcium, Iodine, Iron and Selenium.

Hey there! Yesterday I had ghallaba (a Lebanese vegetable stew) over a bed of rice and hummus for lunch, and for dinner had Dreena Burton’s “no-fu” lentil loaf with roasted rosemary garlic potato wedges (coated with chickpea flour) and steamed broccoli with lemon juice and pepper. Today I’m having hummus, rice, and ghallaba for lunch again, and for dinner will be having a Tadzhikistani Chickpea, Onion, & Tomato Stew made with cumin, coriander, saffron, and cinnamon over rice. (Thanks Thea!) :)

Usually in the winter I have my quintuple berry oatmeal with flax for breakfast, but lately I’ve been having straight up pressure-cooked kale with balsamic vinegar and some fruit. I rinse the fruit, chop, then toss with a Tbsp of flaxseed and a pinch of amla powder. It’s the easiest way I can think of to get flax without eating oatmeal or smoothies.

So there’s a couple days of vegan meals with no oil, wheat, or soy, without even trying! Hope it gives you some ideas. The sky’s the limit with grains and legumes in a vegan diet! Cheers!

Maybe my worst problem is that I’m not so good at cooking and also find it difficult to find the energy for cooking lunch as well as dinner every evening ;-) Maybe I should just try to find a few recipes and cook them over and over until I get used to them.Thanks!

Unlike you, I love to cook. Vegan cooking is not that tough, although during the transition there might be a bit of a learning curve. Overall, though, as with all cooking it can as simple or as difficult as you want to make it.

I try to do the bulk of my cooking every other day so that I have leftovers that we can eat for lunch or dinners. Cooking extra and freezing for later use is a great time saver as well!

Hi Tine, my lunches are always leftovers from previous dinners. There’s no way I could cook both either! And yep, you just gotta find recipes you like one recipe at a time. The ones I mentioned are ones that I make over and over. Also it’s pretty easy to “assemble” vegan meals where you don’t even need a recipe: black beans, salsa, and avocado over a baked potato, a simple rice bowl with stir fried veggies, or rice and steamed broccoli over hummus.

And fwiw I find vegan cooking a lot easier. You just have to make your peace with chopping lots of veggies. But other than that, I think grains and beans are a lot easier than cooking meat.

Tonight we’re going to make Mexican Lasagna from the fatfreevegan blog, also wheat and soy free :)

Hi b00mer: I checked out the blog, and there are certainly some interesting recipes. I would also like to thank you for your suggestions regarding easy vegan meals – I think I will try them out (especially the baked potato solution ;-) Yesterday I made a Chinese dish with some stir-fry vegetables and rice – it tasted fine although I didn’t feel very full. Actually I have just eaten left-overs and already feel hungry again! Maybe I should have added some beans instead of just sprouts and green beans. I already love chopping veggies so that’s not my problem – just making the dishes taste better and finding the energy for making them…!

Tine, another thought for you: I had a co-worker who overnight switched to a whole plant food based diet. She was doing really well and really liked it, but she started to feel shaky. We discussed various possibilities, but she was convinced that the problem was that she was eating so many fruits and veggies, but not enough calories. So, I did some research and suggested that she make a special effort to be sure to eat nuts, seeds and avocados each day. And also, while the fruits and veggies are great, to not skip out on the *whole* grains and legumes. (White rice might not work so well since it would almost devoid of fiber.) These changes worked perfectly for my co-worker. She no longer gets shaky and she says that the meals fill her up so that she isn’t hungry all the time.

I don’t know if this would work for you or not, but I thought the info might be helpful.

Also, you may need to simply start eating more volume-wise. Whole plant foods are naturally lower in calories than animal and junk foods. While this is a plus for someone who is trying to loose weight, it can lead to being hungry if you aren’t eating enough. You should not be hungry on your diet and it is important to make sure you get enough calories. So, you might think both about volume and types of food you eat to make sure you are getting the nutrition that you need to get.

I’m not a doctor or an expert at anything. So, take it all with a grain of salt. But I hope this has been helpful. Good luck!

Hi Thea! Thanks for your input! For many years, I have eaten a lot of vegetables and whole grains so I’m used to eating larger volumes of food in one sitting ;-) The other day, I used brown rice, and my belly was completely full to the point of bursting ;-)

However, I do think you might have a point about the caloric density of my meals – maybe I should make sure to add more fat to my diet in the form of avocado, nuts and seeds.

It is very uncomfortable to go hungry so I would really like to find a solution to this problem.

Hi Tine, another suggestion re: not feeling full on the stir fry. Stir fry is one meal where I definitely eat soy; I absolutely adore tofu stir fry :) BUT! I haven’t tried it yet but have seen recipes for “Burmese tofu” which is made out of chickpea flour and water. It looks pretty easy, just mix together on the stove, pour into a pan and let set. That might be a good alternative. Also maybe stir fry recipes that use peanut butter in the sauce might work well for you? Don’t know if you can eat buckwheat, but if you can find 100% buckwheat soba noodles, those are definitely filling!

Have fun with the Kickstart. I’ve never tried it myself, but the recipes look pretty good. Also if you happen to like Indian food, I noticed that there’s a parallel “21-day Kickstart India” site which is all Indian food.

OMG! I am so excited to try Burmese tofu! I have never heard of it before this post. I love to try new culinary treats, especially if they are plant-based. Thank you, b00mer, so much for sharing this suggestion.

P.S. There are some really yummy recipes on “21-day Kickstart India” ;-)

Me too! I think now that Burma is experiencing some new found and well-deserved freedom and opening up, that we as a global society will be introduced and exposed to many more delicious foods that Burmese cuisine has to offer, especially once more travelers and tourists begin to visit Burma.

BTW- I have read that chickpea flour (aka, garbanzo, gram, and besan flour) can be made from either raw chickpeas or roasted chickpeas, and that the roasted variety is more flavorful, while the raw variety has a slightly bitter taste. So, hopefully I can find some roasted chickpea flour at my market.

WholeFoodChomper: That’s very interesting concerning the garbo flour being roasted or raw. To my thinking, there may be times when I want as neutral/mild a flavor as possible (for example, if I’m making brownies with some garbo flour in it) and other times when a stronger bean taste would be more helpful. But I never want a bitter taste. So, if the raw stuff is bitter, then I agree that I would want the roasted variety. I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t say either way on the bulk bin where I get my garbo flour. But now that you have me curious, I may ask the grocer to find out. And if it’s not the roasted version, maybe I could look around. Thanks.

b00mer: I wanted to give you some feedback and thank you for sharing about the Burmese/chickpea tofu. I found a very easy version of the dish on “girl cooks world”. I gave it a try and it came out deeeelicious. Thank you so much for turning me on to this!!

Like you, I am happy to eat tofu when I can. But I love having variety. And here’s something interesting: While I will eat tofu in dishes, I do not like to eat it plain. And I’m not usually fond of the texture until it is further cooked or disguised in some way. But Ioved the taste and texture of the chickpea tofu that I made. I was nibbling plain cubes of the stuff just because I liked it – before I made the veganized version of the Burmese Tofu Salas With Sesame and Cilantro that I was aiming for as the final product.

I really recommend the no-fu loaf. It’s my favorite loaf that I’ve tried so far. It’s a long ingredients list, but it’s all a one-pot process and pretty quick. Though I do make some mods to cut back on the salt.

That stew is amazing, though it is actually hindering me from progressing through the rest of that cookbook because I keep making it :)

Tine: I know that someone else already gave you a link to the 21 Kickstart Program. I thought I would give it a second shout-out because that program directly answers your question in such a good way: it is 21 days of full-day meal plans. They hold your hand thru the whole process, from grocery lists to meals plans to recipes to inspirational messages, etc. They do a new 21 day program starting at the beginning of each month. It may be just what you are looking for.

On the other hand, I saw in another post from you that you don’t like to cook. Neither do I!!! I do, however like to eat really yummy food and also be healthy. So, in the last three years or so, I have resigned myself to cooking. My approach is to cook 1 or 2 big dishes on the weekend and just eat it over the week. This works well for me and minimizes time in the kitchen.

Finally, if you get 1 or 2 good cookbooks, you are likely to find a set of recipes that you really like and that are easy to make. Some suggestions for places to start:
> Let Them Eat Vegan
> Vegan On The Cheap
> Everyday Happy Herbivore.

Great plug and recommendations, Thea! A couple of easy vegan books I like are: _Vegan Unplugged: A Pantry Cuisine Cookbook and Survival Guide_ and _The Accidental Vegan_. I think both offer a variety of yummy and low-to-no hassle recipes.

Thea and WholeFoodChomper: Thanks for your suggestions – I will certainly look into this!

Regarding the 21 Day Vegan Kick Start Program, I am wondering if it is free? I can’t tell from their website… As I am from Denmark, we use different measurements (kgs instead of lbs, celcius instead of fahrenheit etc) so it would probably be a bit tricky to follow an American recipe, but I think I could make it work ;-)

Yes, it is free. I did it last summer. Really a great tool. Also, you can convert measurements on Google. Not that tricky. I’ve had to do that a lot when using one of my Polish cookbooks. ;-) Wishing you much yummy luck!

I don’t have the source but I have read long ago that the “spicy hot” taste felt in the mouth when we eat spicy food is in actuality pain.

A couple of weeks ago (at night of course…) I suffered an intense tooth pain that rapidly evolved into a trigeminal neuralgia ( later I learned it was all due to a molar root infection an since then I antibiotic and a root canal had to be performed);
I tried it all…the ONLY thing that gave me relief from pain (although for only 30-45 minutes at a time) was doing a mouth rinse with a pinch of cayenne paper hoping that the “spicy” would block the pain. It really made the pain go away! and it didn’t hurt at all it just felt really spicy…

Mitchell: You might try looking up the product “Sinus Buster”. I believe that there are other similar products on the market too. I can’t testify that they will work, but the active ingredient is (I think) in line with this video. Follow the instructions on the bottle.

I am a long time episodic sufferer as well and for the past 3 days, I
use simple Ground Red Cayanne Pepper found at any grocerystores
seasoning section. Its ground/fine.

1. I pour about 1/2 of a dime worth onto the counter
2. Wet my finger and coat with the pepper
3. On the affected side, I use finger and rub inside the nostril 360 degrees
4.
Once the burning starts (worse 1st time), I sniff. Note this will allow
some to drain in the throat so have water handy and be prepared to
cough/spit it out. http://www.covetfashioncheat.com/

“I suffered from chronic headaches — diagnosed by the New England Center for Headache, Stamford , CT , as combined tension/migraine/rebound — for decades. I self-treated with Excedrin and, for 10 years after diagnosis, with prescribed Fioricet and Fioricet with codeine, if needed. Numerous preventive drugs either didn’t work or caused unacceptable side effects. There was no end in sight. Then, my doctor at the Center, Dr. Alan Rapoport, who had done research on capsaicin as a preventive for cluster headaches, tried me on a sample of Sinol spray, based on capsaicin. It was miraculous. Within 3 months, I was off all meds and was using Sinol only occasionally; within 6 months, I was off Sinol too. I still keep it around for the rare occasion when, e.g., wine or oriental spicy food might trigger a mild headache, but my headaches have now been essentially gone for several years. Based on my experience, Sinol nasal spray is something that should be brought to the attention of your readers, especially for breaking the al years. Based on my experience, Sinol nasal spray is something that should be brought to the attention of your readers, especially for breaking the rebound effect. It doesn’t have a horrible burn like described and it is similar to a menthol wasabi type feeling. I liked it very much. It is available over the Internet at drugstore.com or at http://www.sinolusa.com and at several retail establishments.”

I have had trouble, even over the last 4 1/2 years of my plant based diet, with nasal congestion (not a CONSTANT thing, anymore, but still more frequent than I would like, ESPECIALLY when mowing for example). I had a surgery for a deviated septum in 1974, was placed on Afrin and told I would NOT be able to recuperate without it and that I would have to go through a process to wean myself from addiction to it and its rebound effects. In the years since I was successful at doing so but have ALSO found it to be the only treatment that opens me up when I have such nasal congestion that I can’t sleep. (I DID have one doctor, now deceased, who used very effectively what we as his patients “affectionately” call the “jalapeno” treatment. It burned but would keep my nose free and clear anywhere from 3 to 6 months! We would use an entire box of tissue between his office and home, but it would alleviate the sinus infections and nasal congestion for that length of time.)
When I absolutely HAVE to use Afrin to get a decent night’s sleep I will use it for 2-3 nights at the most and then “tough out” a night or two until I can recoup from its rebound and addictive side effects. So, here is my question. Would this capsaicin treatment possibly work for me, without harmful side effects, to relieve my nasal congestion? The Afrin itself is NOT my treatment of choice!
Thanks!

Thank you for your question. There is no solid evidence supporting the use of capsaicin for symptomatic relief of allergic or non allergic rhinitis. However, this review suggests that some individuals with non allergic rhinitis may get some relief from using capsaicin but the evidence is not strong. I would suggest you consult your doctor and if you are going to try this do so under their supervision

I wonder if it is a placebo effect or not, but since 6 days my daily interval headaches behind my nose and eyes have gone completely due to this video. Touch wood that it is permanent! I crush some really mean peppers in my garlic crusher and apply the juice via a swap high into my nose. The first time it was indeed nearly unbearably painfull, you start sneezing, tears come from your eyes. You want to jump. The second day too, but the third day it diminished and by day four you feel nothing anymore. To my amazement the terrible headaches have gone! Thanks God (=Nature)! And mr Gregor for the advice! I thought maybe the capsaicin would harm my mucous membranes but they feel ok. Not for sissy’s this method!

Hi, nicktanzi. The study authors explain their criteria for judging evidence below the table:
“We initially allocate 4 points to evidence from RCTs, and 2 points to evidence from observational studies. To attain the final GRADE score for a given comparison, points are deducted or added from this initial score based on preset criteria relating to the categories of quality, directness, consistency, and effect size. Quality: based on issues affecting methodological rigour (e.g., incomplete reporting of results, quasi-randomisation, sparse data [<200 people in the analysis]). Consistency: based on similarity of results across studies. Directness: based on generalisability of population or outcomes. Effect size: based on magnitude of effect as measured by statistics such as relative risk, odds ratio, or hazard ratio." If you open the table in a new window, you can read the specific reasons for reductions in quality points listed in the right column for each study included in the review. I hope that helps!

Dear Dr. Gregor,
My best friend is suffering from a sporadic sharp pressure only on left side of head (one inch) behind his ear under the bone. He says it feels like somebody is poking him with a sharp stick. Then goes away. The pain lasts between 5-10 seconds. He got a MRI and went to ear specialist and they said it is nothing. He does have high blood pressure and takes medication for it. Do you have any suggestions on what to do next? Could it be a cluster flash headache?
Warmly,
Lisa

This site cannot diagnose or recommend treatment, However, I can suggest that you act as your friend’s advocate, writing down a good history of his symptoms (when did pain begin? How often does it occur? Is there anything that seems to make it worse? better, etc.) possibly helping him/her clarify what doctor(s)/specialists have been seen, what has been diagnosed to date, what tests have been run and what is the treatment plan. Sharp pain as you described should definitely be closely evaluated and perhaps your friend has been caught between specialists with no one doctor closely monitoring case and no clarification regarding the “It is nothing” comment. While I’m glad you are reviewing this site, and certainly as Dr. Greger points out,headache pain seems to improve with a whole food plant based diet, relying on home remedies even promising nutritional approaches, would not be advisable at this point. Much more information is needed and you can assist your friend in obtaining it.